"The Recruit"

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In the next painting of the series, we now see the man with an erect posture, even prouder, yet more serious. He has donned his Union uniform, vibrant in color, and his equipment. Paper and a pencil, sure indication that he now reads and writes, are on the chair.  He has been trained and stands ready to move forward.

I can not tell in what way the soldier here was about to serve. The artist would have known, at the time of the painting's creation, that Black soldiers were not primarily used in combat, although some units were quite notable for their service in combat. One of these is the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, which is dramatized in the movie, "Glory." The first Black Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Sgt. William Carney, a member of this unit, was responsible for maintaining morale as he bravely took over carrying the Union flag during an assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, despite injury. (Georgia Stories, (video) n.d.) 

Black soldiers widely served in all other military roles as chaplains, medics, cooks, builders, scouts, etc. (National Archives, n.d.).

Wood also would have known about the controversy, originating in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in 1863, and settled in 1864, which finally granted equal pay for Black soldiers ($13 per month) that was retroactive for the time that they were paid up to half as much as White soldiers (h2g2, 2006). Black soldiers faced other challenges besides being slighted pay. They were also segregated from white soldiers, faced much harsher treatment as prisoners of war, and were highly limited in their opportunity to be promoted to the ranks of officers (National Archives, n.d.).